Emergency draft gear for railway cars



G. (i. FLOYD.

EMERGENCY DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED 050.31. 1917.

1,434,81 1. v V Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

I I Elam-(2 f 61565: George Gf qy 1 A49 LIE/WK 5 G. e. FLOYD. r EMERGENCY DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATIDN FILED DEC. 3|, 1917.

1 ,434,8 1 1 Patented Nov. 7 1922.

@ 2 SHEETS-SHEE1 2.

Inf/625K 57;

Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

GEORGE Gr. FLOYD, 0F GHICAGQ, ILLlQIlGIS,-ASSIGNOR- TO AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINC-IB, A GORPORATION 0Z5 NEW JERSEY.

EMERGENCY DRAFT FOR RAIL'lTJl-XY CABS.

Application filed December 31, 1817. Serial No. 2 09,622.

To a] Z '70 710/22 ii may com-cm Be it known that I. times]; (it. FLoYn, a LlmI Xtll ot' the llnited States, and resident of ilhic o, in the county of Cook and F itate oi lLinois. have invented certain new and useful ln'iprovements in rlmergencw Draft Gears for Railway Cars. of which the following is a specification.

"l ini ntion relates to emergency draiit gears 'itor railway cars.

(hie of the objects of the invention is to provide a universal cinm'gency dra't't gear applicable to cars. the dimensions of which hetweeu the various associated. parts ditler widely.

Another object is to provide an emergency draft gear which may be assembled readily in place in a minimum amount of time with an expenditure ot' a minimum amount of eflort.

Another object is to provide a novel emergency draft gear capable of being attached to a damaged car to place the same in regular train line service.

A'turther object is to provide an emergency draft gear adapted to meet thevarious requirements for successful commercial operation.

Generally speaking, these and other objects accomplished by providing an emergency draft gear comprising a plurality of articulated parts, all of which, are relatively light and are arranged to be adjusted and otherwise cooperate with various parts of the car.

The invention is illustrated onthe acco1ndenying sheets of drawings, in which- Fi ure. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a Ireight car equipped with my improved emergency draft gear and showing the same in side elevation;

Figure 2 is a plan view of my improved draft gear Figure 3 is a top plan view and Figure 4 a side elevation of the supporting arm of my emergency draft gear;

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken in the plane of line5-5 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a detail side elevation of the adjustment bar; and,

Figure 7 is a top plan View, Figure 8 a front elevation and Figure 9 aside elevation of the spring cap or seat associated. with the adjustment bar.

The various novel features oi. myinvention will be apparent from the following description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Draw oars very frequently are jerked out oi operative association with the remaining port-ions of e draft gear as a result of ex treme pulling strains. is a. matter. of fact. it is not an uncommon occurrence to have the draw bar, yoke and draft gear, the end of the car, or all combined, pulled out. Under such conditions it is necessary to repair the car-either temporarily or permanently, in order that the same may he placed in a train for regular train line service. it is the plan of railroads as now operated to make an. emergency repair at the nearest repair shop as cheaply and as quickly as possible so that the car can be forwarded in regularv train service to the next largest repair shop but to put this car in train service it must have, for one thing, a regular operative coupler of some sort that can be coupled and uncoupled from the side of the car in the regular manner. It the repair is made by the use of an emergency draft gear of any kind it must be able to stand the hutfinp; and pulling shocks of the regular train in the regular way. Therefore, an emergency repair to a damaged coupler ordraft gear must be such that will stand regular rain. line service to its destination. It the car is loaded for points beyond destination of the road on which the accident occurs, there are two plans in making repairs that can be followed. One is an emergency repair sufficient to get the car to a repair shop when the load is transferred to another car, or the repair may be made of sufiicient permanency that the car may proceed to its foreign destination. In these days of heavy engines and heavy tonnage trains, many times the end sill of the car, and the entire end also, comes off with the draft gear when the latter is pulled out, leaving nothing but the protruding ends of the foundation sills of the car. This is especially true of wooden cars.

and consequently the distance from the'top of the track to the top of the axle at the middle thereof is a standard dimension. Heretofore it has been proposed to use the center of the axle between thetwo wheels as a rest for an emergency draft gear. As it is All freight car wheels are 33" in diameter,

necessary to have the distance from the top of the track to the center of the coupling a standard distance of 34.1,, it is very easy, looking at the matter from one angle, to maintain this distance of 3421; to the center of the coupling in the emergency draft gear by resting the device upon the top or the axle nearest the end of the car. Extending to the rearward end of the arrangements heretofore known is a bar with several holes of sutlicientdiameter to take an ordinary king pin with which the car is equipped, the idea being to raise the body off the car trucks, put the rear end. of the bar in between the two center plates, lower the car again so that the king bolt will enter one of the various holes at the back of the bar, thereby anchoring the draw bar as a whole to the car and the truck. it is an unusual thing torthe trucks to be damaged in ordi nary cases where the draw bar, the draft gear, the end sill or all are pulled out. There fore, for all practical purposes the trucks are left intact and in full operating condition.

\Vhile the arrangements heretofore known are of value, the same can be improved upon. It will be noted that the earlier arrangement is a solid structure and therefore not capable of being applied to cars having varying heights'of truck bolster center plates from the track, andalso carswhich vary greatly in distance from the center o'lthe king bolt tothe forward end. Also such earlier arrangement makes no provision for any vertical movement of the truck itselt, which is occasioned from the oscillation of the car in running. Another; point to be borne in mind in connection with emergency draft gears is that at best these draft gears as awhole are relatively heavy and almostimpoa sible for two or three men to handle without special equipment, which they very seldom have for repair work of this nature. Therefore, I have improved emergency dratt gears so that the same may be of universal application, that is, to cars the dimensions of the associated portions of which vary widely, and at the same time I have provided an emergency draft gear which is built up of a plurality of articulated parts,

no one of which is excessively heavy and all of which may be readily handled by one or two men, even when working under adverse conditions under a car. I

It is found that the distance no the top of t-he'track to the truck bolster center plate dilterent classes oi? cars, this variation is for all practical purposes of no moment, as it is so small. The distance from the top oi? the track to the center of the coupling l which is a universal standard. it is seen, therefore, that the center oi the coupler is located at a constant height from the track, and also that the distance to the top oi the axle is a constant height, but there is a variation 01 9" in the height of the center plates to which therear end of the emergency draft gear is to be anchored. it is also necessary to vary the length of the entire emergency dratt gear in accordance with the individual dimensions of th car involved from the center of the king bolt to the 'liace'o'l the end sill oi the car or of the striking block.

Let it he assumes that the axle is equidistant t'rom the hin bolt to the center ot the coupling. Therefore, a 9 variation in the height'of the center plate at the king bolt would mean a variation of hall this amount at the axle which supports the draft gear.

Referring particularly to the figures of the drawing, it will be noted that l have provided an emergency draft gear, incl uding a center beam 10, the rear end of which is pivotally connected by a pin 1.1 to a counecting plate 12 which rests in a horizontal position between the two center plates 13 and. 1d. It is apparent from the remarks made hereinabove that it is necessar vto have a pivotal c nnection between the center beam and the connecting plate 12 i l the coupler is to remain at constant height for varying conditions. To take up this vertical movement at the axle which supports the entire emergency dralt gear, I have provided an adjustable supporting arm 15, the front end of which is pivotally connectedto the center beam lO'by means of a pin 30, and the rear end of which takes thectorm of a horizontal bar 16 having a'wearing plate 17 connected thereto, which rests upon the front axle 180i the truck. The adjustablesupporting arm 15, intermediate its ends, is connected to the center beam 10 by an adjustment bar 19, (see Figs. 1, 5 and 6) the lower end of which is provided with a plu rality of openings 20 which may be brought into register with any one of the openings 21 in the supporting arm 15, a pin 22 being provided for passing through the register ng openings for effecting a pivotal COQIlQ-"UOH between the supporting arm 15 and support ing bar 19. The upper. end of the supporting bar 19 is provided with an elongated opening for the reception of a pin 2e carried by the center beam 10. The center beam 10 and coupler are yieldably supported by a spring '25. the lower end of which rests upon a seat 26 which is held in a given position by the shoulders 27 of the supporting bar 19. The top of the spring 25 is en gaged by a cap which is a duplicate of the seat 26 shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9, the spring being initially compressed a given amount by forcing the spring cap down wardly to a point where the collar segments 28 extend below the shoulders 29 of the supporting her 19, whereupon the spring cap 26 may be given a quarter turn. to lock the spring 25 in its compressed condition. It is apparent, therefore, that the coupler and center beam may oscillate vertically in accordance with operating conditions of the car when the car or train" is in motion. By providing the supportinp arm 15 and the adjustable bar 19 with the openings 21, and 20. respectively, the forward end of the coupler may be raised to the proper height after the connecting plate 12 is placed in position between the two center plates 13 and 14, the pin 22 then being; inserted in the proper openings for connecting the supporting arm and. bar to hold the front end of the coupler in adjusted position.

The variation in the distance from the king bolt 31 to the end of the car is taken care of by providing a series of holes 32, any one of which may receive the king bolt 31.

Instead of casting the coupler head 33 integral with the center beam 10, the latter is provided with a square pocket 34 in its outer end, into which is fitted a short shank 35 of the coupler. the shank being secured in the pocket by a plurality of bolts 36 pass ing through corresponding openings in the walls of the pocket through the shank.

In repairing a car disabled in the manner above described, the emergency draft gear is applied in the following manner: The connecting plate 12, which is a comparatively light piece, is placed between the center plates 13 and 14 and locked in position by the king bolt 31 which passes through any one of the openings 32 in the connecting plate in accordance with the dimensions of the car. After this piece is in. place, the center beam 10 is pivotally connected t the connecting plate 12 by the pin 11. The coupler head is connected to the front end of the center beam 10 by passing the bolts 36 down through the openings in the housing of the pocket and through the openings in the coupler shank, the center beam being supported at the proper height in any suitable manner. The supporting arm 15 is then pivotally connected to the center beam 10 by the pin 30. The adjustment bar 19 may be pivotally connected to the support ing arm at the time thelatter is connected to the center beam 10 and. the adjustment bar pivotally connected to the. center beam by the pin 24. In view of the fact that the shank of the coupler used in this emergency draft gear is relatively short, old (ll carded couplers may be used where the rear portions of the shank are damaged, it being merely new. .ry to saw or cut off the d amaged portion of the coupler shanl: and provide the same with a couple ofbolt openings.

This emergency draft gear to be operative in train line service. must have a perfectly I workable coupling anduncoupling device. In case the end sill 37 or the end of the car is gone there is nothing to which the ordinary uncoupling levers and their brackets could be attached. Therefore, I have provided an angleplate 38, thelower arm 39 of which may be bolted into the pocket of the center beam l0 at the same time that the coupler is connected to the center beam, said angle plate being" provided with an opening 39 above the lock lifter 40. whereby a chain 4L1. one end of which is connected to the lifter l0, may pass through the opening 39 in the angle plate and extend outwardly to the side of the car,'where it may be suitably attached thereto. To uncouple the couplers, therefore, it is necessary only to pull on this chain 11.

By means of this emergency draft gear it is a simple matter to temporarily repair damaged cars, the dimensions of which vary widely, and place the cars in such condition that the same may be used in regular train line service until the carsmay be permanently repaired. These emergency draft gears may be distributed along the road so that whenever the draft rigging of a car is damaged, one or more of these emergency draft gears may be quickly sent from a nearby point to the damaged can whereupon the same may be repaired and put back into: service with a loss of a minimum amount of time.

It is evident that there may be various modifications of the invention as herein particularly shown and described, and it is my intention to cover all such modifications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An emergency draft gear comprising a coupler carryingmember, a member supported by a car axle. and a height controlling member extending vertically between said other two members for supporting the coupler carrying member in position.

2. An emergency draft gear comprising a member for carrying a coupler, a member connected thereto and resting upon a truck axle, and a yieldable member extending between said members for yieldably sustaining one of them.

3. An emergency draft gear comprising a member for carrying a coupler, a member connected thereto and supported by a truck axle, means associated with said members for varying the position of said coupler carrying member and including means for yieldably sustaining said coupler carrying member.

4. An emergency draft gear comprising a relatively fixed member, a member for carrying a coupler pivotally connected thereto a supporting member which may rest upon a truck axle pivotally connected to said coupler carrying member, and a yieldable connecting member between said coupler carrying member and the member which is adapted to rest upon the truck axle.

5. An emergency draft gear comprising a member for carrying a coupler, a supporting member having a plurality of openings, and a member connecting said coupler carrying. member and supporting member and having a plurality of openings by means of which the supporting member and'connecting member may be selectively connected for varying the position of the coupler carrying member.

6. An'emergency draft gear comprising a member for carrying a coupler, a supporting member having a plurality of openings, a member connecting said coupler carrying member and supporting member and having a plurality of. openings by means of which the supporting member and connecting member may be selectively connected for varying the position of the coupler carrying member,-and means whereby there may be a yieldable movement between said coupler carrying member and supporting member.

7. An emergency draft gear comprising a member for carrying a coupler, a supporting member having a plurality of openings, :1

member connecting said coupler carrying member and supporting member and having a plurality of openings by means of which the supporting member and connecting member may be selectively connect-ed for varying the position of the coupler carry-- ing member, and yieldable means carried by said connecting member whereby there may be a yieldable movement between said coupler carrying member and supporting member.

Signed at Chicago Illinois, this 26th day of December, AQD. 1917.

GEORGE G. FLOYD.

Witnesses MILTON I. MILLER, CHAS. L. BYRON. 

